Hi all, I'm new here and to this e-reading business but I've been browsing through these forums for a few days looking for a solution to this problem but I can't seem to find one.

While I like iBooks for it's bookshelf and I can organise it to suit my needs, I find the actual reading screen to be quite annoying so I've tried out the Kindle app and I find the reading experience to be better.

However I'm finding it incredibly difficult to get the Kindle app to work properly. Adding (.mobi) books from the iTunes App window doesn't always work and even when it does, or with the @kindle.com email facility, they just go to 'Docs' and not to the 'Books' section.

Is there any way to get my books to actually go into the 'Books' section of the app? Or is this unavoidable and only books purchased directly from Amazon will go into that folder? I apologise if this is seems like a stupid question... but it's really bugging me and I'd like a solution if there is one!

Or is this unavoidable and only books purchased directly from Amazon will go into that folder? I apologise if this is seems like a stupid question... but it's really bugging me and I'd like a solution if there is one!

Thanks,

J

It's not a stupid question, and yes, only books purchased from Amazon show as "Books"; your personal content (anything non-Amazon) shows as "Docs".

I use Calibre to administer my books. So my starting point is always adding new books to my Calibre library.

However when I want to send a book to my Kindle or to the Kindle app on my iPhone I use the Amazon app, Send to Kindle.

From Calibre, I invoke the Save to Disk function (MOBI format), then I right-click the copy I have just saved and select Send to Kindle. As I have both Kindle and the Kindle app on an iPhone, I have set up Send to Kindle to send to both devices at once. This process works well for me.

Unfortunately the Kindle apps (for iOS, Fire, Android) have at least two major downsides, for me anyway. They segregate books into Amazon content (placed in Books) and non-Amazon content (placed in Docs). They provide no usable ability to categorize/organize books into collections.

You can also do it via DropBox; .epub files will then open in iBooks, and .mobi files will open in Kindle (though still under Docs, not Books). This is an easy way to preview ebooks you are creating too.

Unfortunately the Kindle apps (for iOS, Fire, Android) have at least two major downsides, for me anyway. They segregate books into Amazon content (placed in Books) and non-Amazon content (placed in Docs). They provide no usable ability to categorize/organize books into collections.

Does this also prevent bookmarking between devices? If so, non-kindle .mobi files may just as well be converted to epub and placed in iBooks.

Does this also prevent bookmarking between devices? If so, non-kindle .mobi files may just as well be converted to epub and placed in iBooks.

No, if you choose the send to Kindle option where your modified/custom book is sent to the Amazon cloud as a personal doc, then you can sync farthest page read, bookmarks, and highlights. I don't take notes on books so I'm not sure if notes will sync as well, but they probably do. Side loaded Kindle books are a different story.

EDIT: I typically set free my Amazon purchased books and ePubs that are purchased elsewhere, add an embedded font to make them easier to read, then send them to the Amazon cloud as personal docs. That way I can sync farthest page read, bookmarks, and highlights between the book on my iPad, Kindle Touch, and Fire HD. This works really well.

No, if you choose the send to Kindle option where your modified/custom book is sent to the Amazon cloud as a personal doc, then you can sync farthest page read, bookmarks, and highlights. I don't take notes on books so I'm not sure if notes will sync as well, but they probably do. Side loaded Kindle books are a different story.

EDIT: I typically set free my Amazon purchased books and ePubs that are purchased elsewhere, add an embedded font to make them easier to read, then send them to the Amazon cloud as personal docs. That way I can sync farthest page read, bookmarks, and highlights between the book on my iPad, Kindle Touch, and Fire HD. This works really well.

Thanks for that, I'll keep it in mind, especially the embedded font. Never occurred to me to do that.

Thanks for that, I'll keep it in mind, especially the embedded font. Never occurred to me to do that.

It really helps with the Kindle Touch and the Fire HD. I really don't need it with the iPad 3 though as it has good and sharp fonts. I'm still having issues with the embedded fonts showing correctly on the iPad 3 via KF8 docs, but I'll get it right eventually. They work really well on the Fire HD and so so on the Touch. Each device renders fonts differently so I need to research the best way to embed them so they work perfectly on all devices. Basically I create an ePub and convert it to KF8 with Kindle Previewer then send it to the Amazon Cloud.